Meh. Kind of weak if you ask me. Meyer is by no means infallible, but this doesn't really ding him" that bad. I also agree that there seems to be blood in the water, making the comparison to Rich Rodriguez at Michigan pretty much on. Rodriguez made enemies with enough folks that it caused him more problems than a head coach has time to deal with. You want your coach focused on everything important to winning games, not mired in defending himself half the time he is awake.

If Ohio State stumbles early (which is a good possibility when transitioning offenses) I'd be willing to bet that the heat gets dialed up a little more. Winning games makes the noise a little more quiet, so it will be interesting to see how they come out this year.

The author of the original article, Matt Hayes, is based in Florida and is a known Gator fan. When Urban was at Florida he wrote multiple articles praising him, but the moment Urban walks away he sours.

While I don't doubt that they may be a little truth in his claims (I feel like every coach gives their star players a little extra attention than the benchwarmers), it can easily be argued that Matt Hayes is simply using his position as a journalist to vent his personal frustrations towards Coach Meyer. It is not hard to sensationalize a story of this nature in order to grab more readers' attention.

I don't think the "Circle of Trust" is a big deal. IMO these are the top two "deals":

1. The story confirmed multiple sources of shady dealings with players. Who cares if some players were treated better, but the fake injuries and limited punishment for players (again, who cares if some were treated better) are concerning.

2. A story this small got a heck of a lot of clicks. This means that there will be more and more reporters interviewing past Gators and continue to bring Urban's perceived character down. This hurts recruiting. Not much, however, since I think many of the recruits Urban gets are star-gazed at his rings.

If you dispute anything in this story because you think Meyer is probably straight, it's time to get a cat scan. The OP is correct that he is "perfect for Ohio". Down there in the bowels of Ohio, they simply don't care about pesky issues like ethics and integrity. ALL they care about is beating Michigan and winning football games. That will ALWAYS be the difference between Michigan and TSIO.

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Treadwell is warming up to OSu and their spread system. Reminds me of the Dunn recruitment in a way. This kid is tailor made for the Michigan offense. Makes no sense to go to OSu...yet it seems it will be a battle.

See my Supernova post about Foster and Treadwell comparing notes. I think they are both down on Ohio. It just that Treadwell is a savvy PR man and Foster is not. Clearly Foster was not excited about getting up early to haul his but out to Ohio. Ohio may have only cooled on Foster because he cooled on them. But If your read Treadwell's comments about each of his visits they were all great. For Ohio, i think his most positive comment was that their stock went up and that it was cool to meet Urban. You have to read his visit comments betwen the lines to see which schools he really likes.

This is actually quite awesome. In the new world of social media Urban's lies are much more likely to become exposed and backfire than when he was at FL. There is a reasonable chance we could witness a total meltdown in Ohio over the next couple of years.

FL kids won't want to go to Ohio now that he's bashing Florida...a situation he created.

All the new lies are now quickly exposed. E.g. the sign about Ohio's better education than the school up north was quickly exposed.

All the recruits see this stuff and so do the parents.

A great example was when he told both Treadwell and Foster that they were both #1. Treadwell actually DM'd Foster on Twitter to compare notes. I doubt either is really interested in Ohio at this point.

Last year he was able to quickly pick up a few recruits before the stories started coming out. But, look at all the recruiting battles they've lost to PSU, ND and UM this year. That shouldn't happen. His reputation may be quickly catching up with him.

The implosion may not happen...especially if he can put together a couple good seasons to start. "Winning is the best deodorant (John Madden)." But we could witness a supernova down in Ohio.

Everyone knows he is tricky and will say anything to a recruit if it will help them to commit to his school, more and more crap about him will surface now that he is not protected down there in SEC country. I can't wait until he gets caught in some more lies w this years group of recruits, cause it will happen. Good luck Dunn w Liar and all his nonsense he is spewing out of his trap. 2RB last year and 2 more this year so far. Watch as in the next 2 years when we have 2 RB run for a thousand yards each and you are just getting bubble screens thrown to you.

Somewhat OT, but I thought it too hilarious not to relay. Today, whilst in the middle of defending Meyer, the guys on 97.1 in Columbus actually brought up how ticked people are going to be with Tress if/when this year's Buckeye team goes undefeated and can't even go to a bowl, let alone the NCG. They are already that far along in the Urban ass-kissing. These are the same guys that trashed him like no one else while he was at Florida. I can't wait for them to have their own version of "The Horror" so that I can just take it all in with a front-row seat...

If anyone is still reading this thread, what is the whole deal with the circle of trust to begin with? I missed the start of this story entirely so is it just that certain players were more 'trusted' than others? I.e. team leaders, big playmakers, etc? Special players get special treatment? I guess I'm trying to figure out why I'm supposed to be outraged.

Ironically, Florida’s downfall began at the height of Meyer’s success—the 2008 national championship season. Three seasons of enabling and pandering to elite players—what Meyer’s players called his “Circle of Trust”—began to tear away at what he’d put together.

“I’ve never heard of Circle of Trust before in my life,” Meyer said.

Former players, though, contend it was the foundation of Florida’s culture under Meyer. In the season opener against Hawaii, Meyer said a few elite players (including wideout Percy Harvin, linebacker Brandon Spikes and tight end Aaron Hernandez) would miss the game with injuries. According to multiple sources, the three players—all critical factors in Florida’s rise under Meyer—failed drug tests for marijuana and were sitting out as part of standard university punishment.

By publicly stating the three were injured and not being disciplined, former players say, Meyer was creating a divide between the haves and have-nots on the team.